Hi, Bunny-I was getting ready to post for our Veterans, too. My favorite saying for this day is "If you love & treasure your freedoms, Thank a vet!!"

May God Bless America!

God Bless the Ladies and Gentlemen who have served, currently serve and will serve our country so proudly. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And God Bless America........

I'm happy & proud to join you in thanking those who have served and still do. Happy Veteran's Day!
(U.S. Army 1978-1982)

He was getting old and paunchy
And his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion,
Telling stories of the past.

Of a war that he once fought in
And the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies;
They were heroes, every one.

And 'tho sometimes to his neighbors
His tales became a joke,
All his buddies listened quietly
For they knew where of he spoke.
But we'll hear his tales no longer,
For ol' Bob has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer
For a Soldier died today.

He won't be mourned by many,
Just his children and his wife.
For he lived an ordinary,
Very quiet sort of life.
He held a job and raised a family,
Going quietly on his way;
And the world won't note his passing,
'Tho a Soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth,
Their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing,
And proclaim that they were great.
Papers tell of their life stories
From the time that they were young
But the passing of a Soldier
Goes unnoticed, and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution
To the welfare of our land,
Some jerk who breaks his promise
And cons his fellow man?

Or the ordinary fellow
Who in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his country
And offers up his life?

The politician's stipend
And the style in which he lives,
Are often disproportionate,
To the service that he gives.

While the ordinary Soldier,
Who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal
And perhaps a pension, small.

It's so easy to forget them,
For it is so many times
That our Bobs and Jims and Johnnys,
Went to battle, but we know,

It is not the politicians
With their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom
That our country now enjoys.
Should you find yourself in danger,
With your enemies at hand,
Would you really want some cop-out,
With his ever waffling stand?

Or would you want a Soldier--
His home, his country, his kin,
Just a common Soldier,
Who would fight until the end.

He was just a common Soldier,
And his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us
We may need his like again.
For when countries are in conflict,
We find the Soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles
That the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor
While he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage
At the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simply headline
In the paper that might say:

"OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING,
A SOLDIER DIED TODAY."

Shirley

AMEN Shirley, that was beautiful and sad and true all at the same time.
GOD BLESS ALL soldiers, serving, non-serving, passed, and alive!
I wish just once, EVERYONE could experience WAR just for one day or even less. This way people would not only have MORE of an appreciation to the people who do serve our country, but to let everyone know what war REALLY is. Maybe then, we would ALL, as people, fight HARDER to PREVENT war instead of STARTING one.

Happy Veteran's Day, from the wife of one.
Christy

This song always gets me, doesn't matter that it's not about soldiers from my country. There's an Americanized version of this, but this is the original.

AND THE BAND PLAYED
WALTZING MATILDA
When I was a young man I carried my pack
And I lived the free life of a rover
From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in nineteen fifteen my country said Son
It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we sailed away from the quay
And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers
We sailed off to Gallipoli

How well I remember that terrible day
How the blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well
He chased us with bullets, he rained us with shells
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us right back to Australia
But the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we stopped to bury our slain
We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then we started all over again

Now those that were left, well we tried to survive
In a mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
But around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit
And when I woke up in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead
Never knew there were worse things than dying
For no more I'll go waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and near
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me

So they collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where my legs used to be
And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
Then turned all their faces away

And now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I watch my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reliving old dreams of past glory
And the old men march slowly, all bent, stiff and sore
The forgotten heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men answer to the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Some day no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me
And their ghosts may be heard as you pass the Billabong
Who'll come-a-waltzing Matilda with me?

--song by Eric Bogle

Shirley...that poem had me in tears. My grandpa fought in the entire WWII, and made it home missing pieces of himself (physically AND mentally). That he made it home at all is quite amazing in itself.
My uncle went to fight in Vietnam, but didn't come back. He was just 2 weeks away from being sent home, when his camp was bombed. He lost his life carrying others out of the camp.

My grandpa always said that he was, in a way, glad that his son didn't make it home. He didn't want him to have to live with the memories of things that he saw & had to do....like he did.
I could never imagine that when I was growing up, but I know how often my daddy was comforted by that thought. (His brother was his best friend)
But now, seeing the Iraq war...things on the news...soldier's stories...the way they are treated when they come home.......I can see more clearly why grandpa thought that way.
Hearing stories from my grandpa has always made my heart break for the soldiers & families that have to go through that.

The movie "The War at Home" (with Emilio Estevez & Martin Sheen) was a heart-wrenching depiction of that struggle. I recommend it for anyone that doesn't understand what a soldier goes through. I know it helped me.